IdeaVim Configuration

A single-file, which-key-driven IdeaVim setup for JetBrains IDEs. For background and rationale, see the article series: Part 1: A Practical IdeaVim Setup for IntelliJ IDEA and Part 2: Hardening a Config I Thought Already Worked.

Compatibility: Tested with IdeaVim 2.x on recent JetBrains IDEs (2025.x). Some options here (functextobj, ideaput, sethandler) require a reasonably up-to-date IdeaVim.

Everything lives in one file: .ideavimrc. Put it in your home directory.

# Back up any existing config first
cp ~/.ideavimrc ~/.ideavimrc.bak 2>/dev/null || true

# Copy this repo's file to your home directory…
cp .ideavimrc ~/.ideavimrc

# …or symlink it so the repo stays your live config:
ln -s "$(pwd)/.ideavimrc" ~/.ideavimrc

Reload without restarting via <leader>vr, the IdeaVim status-bar widget → Reload, or just restart the IDE.

The same ~/.ideavimrc is loaded by every JetBrains IDE (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, Rider…). A few Java-specific actions (e.g. EncapsulateFields, ShowUmlDiagram) simply do nothing in IDEs that lack them: no errors. One caveat that's easy to miss: the file travels between IDEs automatically, but the plugin set doesn't. Five Marketplace plugins must be installed in each IDE you use: Which-Key (the <leader> popup), IdeaVim-EasyMotion + AceJump (jumps), CaseConv (the <leader>c case conversions), and FunctionTextObj (am/aM/im text objects). A missing plugin fails silently: no popup, no error, just features that quietly don't happen.

set scrolloff=10
set history=1000
set number relativenumber
set showmode
set showcmd
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set incsearch
set hlsearch
set visualbell
set gdefault

set clipboard+=unnamed,ideaput
set ideajoin
set ideamarks
set idearefactormode=keep
set ideastatusicon=gray

• scrolloff=10 Keeps 10 lines of context above/below the cursor.
• history=1000 Remembers more command-line entries.
• number relativenumber Absolute number on the current line, relative elsewhere.
• showmode / showcmd Show the current mode and partial commands. (On by default in current IdeaVim; kept for clarity.)
• ignorecase + smartcase Search is case-insensitive until you type an uppercase letter. smartcase does nothing without ignorecase; both are required.
• incsearch / hlsearch Incremental search and match highlighting.
• visualbell Flash instead of beep.
• gdefault Substitutions are global by default.
• clipboard+=unnamed,ideaput Use the system clipboard, and paste via native IntelliJ insertion (multi-caret / template aware).
• ideajoin J uses the IDE's language-aware smart join.
• ideamarks Syncs Vim's uppercase marks with IDE bookmarks. (On by default; kept for clarity.)
• idearefactormode=keep Stay in normal mode during refactors (e.g. rename) instead of dropping into select mode. Valid values: keep, select, visual.
• ideastatusicon=gray Subtle status-bar icon.

set exchange
set commentary
set ReplaceWithRegister
set surround
set nerdtree

set easymotion
let g:EasyMotion_override_acejump = 0
set quickscope
let g:qs_highlight_on_keys = ['f', 'F', 't', 'T']

set highlightedyank

set textobj-entire
set indent-object
set argtextobj
let g:argtextobj_pairs="[:],(:),<:>"
set functextobj

set which-key
set notimeout
let g:WhichKey_FontFamily = "JetBrains Mono"
let g:WhichKey_FontSize = 20
let g:WhichKey_PrefixColor = "#a403fe"
let g:WhichKey_CommandColor = "#01ffff"
let g:WhichKey_PrefixStyle = "bold"
let g:WhichKey_KeyStyle = "italic"
let g:WhichKey_SortOrder = "by_key_prefix_first"
let g:WhichKey_SortCaseSensitive = "false"
let g:WhichKey_ShowTypedSequence = "false"

• exchange Swap two pieces of text (cx + motion).
• commentary Comment/uncomment (gcc, gc + motion).
• ReplaceWithRegister Replace text with a register's contents. Note: normal-mode gr is remapped to Find Usages in this config (see LSP-style Bare Keys), so use visual-mode gr on a selection or grr for a whole line instead.
• surround Add/change/delete surroundings (ys, cs, ds).
• nerdtree File-explorer tree.
• easymotion Fast on-screen jumps. Its default prefix is <leader><leader> (space space), so a single space opens your which-key menu, and a double space starts an EasyMotion jump. Relies on the AceJump IDE plugin. g:EasyMotion_override_acejump = 0 lets EasyMotion and AceJump coexist.
• quickscope Passively highlights jump targets, limited to f/F/t/T. No keymaps; pure enhancement.
• highlightedyank Briefly highlights yanked text.
• textobj-entire / indent-object / argtextobj Text objects for the whole buffer (ie/ae), indentation (ii/ai), and function arguments (ia/aa).
• functextobj Method/function text objects: am (a method), aM (incl. JavaDoc/annotations), im (inner body).
• which-key + notimeout Popup that shows possible bindings after a prefix, with no timeout so it stays up. The g:WhichKey_* variables control the popup's font, colors, and sorting. FontFamily must name an installed font, and since the popup is rendered via Swing's HTML support, font ligatures won't display. The readable labels in the popup (e.g. "Debugging" instead of a raw action ID) come from the g:WhichKeyDesc_* variables that accompany every mapping group in the config.

vim-sneak was removed: it overlapped EasyMotion and took over s/S (substitute). EasyMotion + QuickScope now cover jumping. To get sneak-style s{char}{char} back on a single engine, add map s <Plug>(easymotion-s2) (you lose s=substitute; use cl instead).

sethandler <C-h> n:vim
sethandler <C-j> n:vim
sethandler <C-k> n:vim
sethandler <C-l> n:vim

nmap <C-p> <Action>(PreviousTab)
nmap <C-n> <Action>(NextTab)

nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>h
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>l
nnoremap <C-k> <C-w>k
nnoremap <C-j> <C-w>j

nmap <C-o> <Action>(Back)
nmap <C-i> <Action>(Forward)

nmap [[ <Action>(MethodUp)
nmap ]] <Action>(MethodDown)

• sethandler <C-h/j/k/l> n:vim Hands these keys to IdeaVim in normal mode so pane navigation is never swallowed by an IDE action.
• <C-p> / <C-n> Previous / next tab.
• <C-h/l/k/j> Move to the pane left / right / up / down.
• <C-o> / <C-i> Back / forward in the navigation history. In Vim <C-o> goes back and <C-i> forward; also <C-i> is the same keycode as <Tab>, so <Tab> triggers Forward too, exactly the Vim-native behavior.
• [[ / ]] Jump to the previous / next method.

vnoremap < <gv
vnoremap > >gv

map <A-n> <Action>(SelectNextOccurrence)
map <A-p> <Action>(UnselectPreviousOccurrence)
map <A-a> <Action>(SelectAllOccurrences)

map <A-Up>   <Action>(EditorSelectWord)
map <A-Down> <Action>(EditorUnSelectWord)

nnoremap <A-j> <Action>(MoveLineDown)
nnoremap <A-k> <Action>(MoveLineUp)

• < / > Indent left / right and keep the selection active.
• <A-n> / <A-p> Add / remove a cursor at the next / previous occurrence (multi-caret).
• <A-a> Select all occurrences at once.
• <A-Up> / <A-Down> Expand / shrink the selection semantically (word → expression → statement → block).
• <A-j> / <A-k> Move the current line down / up.

Alt mappings can be intercepted by the OS/keymap on some systems (menu mnemonics on Windows/Linux, special characters on macOS). Remap these if they don't fire.

nmap K  <Action>(QuickJavaDoc)
nmap gd <Action>(GotoDeclaration)
nmap gi <Action>(GotoImplementation)
nmap gr <Action>(FindUsages)
nmap gy <Action>(GotoTypeDeclaration)

• K Quick documentation (hover) for the symbol under the cursor.
• gd Go to declaration. (Overrides native go-to-local-declaration.)
• gi Go to implementation. (Overrides native insert-at-last-position; use `^ for that.)
• gr Find usages (references). (Shadows ReplaceWithRegister's normal-mode gr; visual gr and grr still work. On older IdeaVim builds the plugin's defaults could override user mappings; see VIM-4180.)
• gy Go to type declaration.

These complement the discoverable <leader>g / <leader>i groups below: bare keys for speed, leader groups for discovery.

nnoremap n nzz
nnoremap N Nzz
nnoremap <C-d> <C-d>zz
nnoremap <C-u> <C-u>zz
nnoremap Y y$
xnoremap p P

• n / N and <C-d> / <C-u> Keep the cursor line centered (zz) after search jumps and half-page scrolls.
• Y Yank to the end of the line, consistent with C and D. (Native Y is a historical alias for yy.)
• p (visual mode) Paste over a selection without clobbering the unnamed register, so the same text can be pasted repeatedly. If your IdeaVim build still overwrites the register, use xnoremap <leader>p "_dP as a fallback.

nmap <C-S-m> <Action>(ToolWindowsGroup)
nnoremap <silent> <Esc> :nohlsearch<CR>

• <C-S-m> Open the Tool Windows group.
• <Esc> Clear search highlighting. Written as <Esc> because <C-[> is byte-identical to it; if it ever clashes with dismissing the which-key popup, move it to <leader>h.

Space is the leader. Press it and pause to see the which-key popup. Double space (<leader><leader>) starts EasyMotion.

ShowPopupMenu is on <leader>m (not <C-m>) because <C-m> is the same keycode as <CR>/Enter.

Requires the CaseConv IDE plugin (me.laria.code.idea_caseconv). Works on a visual selection.

The same ~/.ideavimrc is loaded by every JetBrains IDE, so the file ends with an &ide block for IDE-specific tweaks:

if &ide =~? 'pycharm'
  " PyCharm-only tweaks (e.g. Jupyter / scientific mode)
elseif &ide =~? 'webstorm'
  " WebStorm-only tweaks
elseif &ide =~? 'rider'
  " Rider-only tweaks
endif

Run :echo &ide to see the current IDE name.

Action IDs can change between IDE versions. If a mapping stops working, enable IdeaVim: Track Action Ids (open Search Everywhere / double-press Shift, type the command, toggle it on); the IDE then shows the action ID of anything you trigger, ready to copy into your config.